ICE stands by announcement that 'several hundred' detainees were released to save money

3/1/13 5:17 PM EST

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement estimates that the number of detainees in its custody will have fallen by about 5,000 people by the end of March, but the agency contends that only a few hundred of them will have been released because of efforts to cut costs.

"ICE detention populations ebb and flow on a daily basis with many individuals both coming into, and leaving ICE custody," agency spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said Friday.

Her statement was in response to an Associated Press report claiming that ICE released 2,000 detainees in February and would release another 3,000 in March "due to looming budget cuts."

But, according to ICE, just a small fraction of those releases are being driven by an effort to save money where possible because of sequestration. "Beyond that normal movement, and as fiscal uncertainty remains over the continuing resolution and possible sequestration, ICE reviewed its detained population to ensure detention levels stay within ICE's current budget and placed several hundred individuals on methods of supervision less costly than detention," Christensen said.

"At this point, we don't anticipate additional releases, but that could change based on sequester," she added. "As such, the agency must prepare contingency plans in the event of future cuts, however those plans are simply deliberative as we do not yet know what the cut rate will be."

It's the second time this week that ICE has pushed back on an AP report. On Wednesday, the agency called an AP report "misleading and inaccurate" for suggesting that a senior official was stepping down as a result of the controversial decision to cut costs by releasing some non-violent detainees. The official had already informed the agency of his plans to retire.